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Good Fortune Will Elevate Even Petty Minds, And Give Them The Appearance Of A Certain Greatness And Stateliness, As From Their High Place They Look Down Upon The World; But The Truly Noble And Resolved Spirit Raises Itself, And Becomes More Conspicuous In Times Of Disaster And Ill Fortune.

-Plutarch

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Good Fortune Will Elevate

Plutarch

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Good Fortune Will Elevate Even Petty Minds, And Give Them The Appearance Of A Certain Greatness And Stateliness, As From Their High Place They Look Down Upon The World; But The Truly Noble And Resolved Spirit Raises Itself, And Becomes More Conspicuous In Times Of Disaster And Ill Fortune.

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Solon Being Asked, Namely, What City Was Best To Live In. That City, He Replied, In Which Those Who Are Not Wronged, No Less Than Those Who Are Wronged, Exert Themselves To Punish The Wrongdoers.

For Man Is A Plant, Not Fixed In The Earth, Nor Immovable, But Heavenly, Whose Head, Rising As It Were From A Root Upwards, Is Turned Towards Heaven.

A Lover's Soul Lives In The Body Of His Mistress.

I Am All That Hath Been, And Is, And Shall Be; And My Veil No Mortal Has Hitherto Raised.

Themistocles Replied That A Man's Discourse Was Like To A Rich Persian Carpet, The Beautiful Figures And Patterns Of Which Can Only Be Shown By Spreading And Extending It Out; When It Is Contracted And Folded Up, They Are Obscured And Lost.

For The Wise Man, Every Day Is A Festival.

As Geographers, Sosius, Crowd Into The Edges Of Their Maps Parts Of The World Which They Do Not Know About, Adding Notes In The Margin To The Effect That Beyond This Lies Nothing But Sandy Deserts Full Of Wild Beasts, And Unapproachable Bogs.

The Richest Soil, If Uncultivated, Produces The Rankest Weeds.

Rome Was In The Most Dangerous Inclination To Change On Account Of The Unequal Distribution Of Wealth And Property, Those Of Highest Rank And Greatest Spirit Having Impoverished Themselves By Shows, Entertainments, Ambition Of Offices, And Sumptuous Buildings, And The Riches Of The City Having Thus Fallen Into The Hands Of Mean And Low-born Persons. So That There Wanted But A Slight Impetus To Set All In Motion, It Being In The Power Of Every Daring Man To Overturn A Sickly Commonwealth.

When Another Is Asked A Question, Take Special Care Not To Interrupt To Answer It Yourself.

Reason Speaks And Feeling Bites

It Is Circumstance And Proper Measure That Give An Action Its Character, And Make It Either Good Or Bad.

Though Others Before Him Had Triumphed Three Times, Pompeius, By Having Gained His First Triumph Over Libya, His Second Over Europe, And This The Last Over Asia, Seemed In A Manner To Have Brought The Whole World Into His Three Triumphs.

Gout Is Not Relieved By A Fine Shoe Nor A Hangnail By A Costly Ring Nor Migraine By A Tiara.

As To Caesar, When He Was Called Upon, He Gave No Testimony Against Clodius, Nor Did He Affirm That He Was Certain Of Any Injury Done To His Bed. He Only Said, He Had Divorced Pompeia Because The Wife Of Caesar Ought Not Only To Be Clear Of Such A Crime, But Of The Very Suspicion Of It.

Good Birth Is A Fine Thing, But The Merit Is Our Ancestors.

To Harmodius, Descended From The Ancient Harmodius, When He Reviled Iphicrates [a Shoemaker's Son] For His Mean Birth, "my Nobility," Said He, "begins In Me, But Yours Ends In You.

Euripides Was Wont To Say, Silence Was An Answer To A Wise Man; But We Seem To Have Greater Occasion For It In Our Dealing With Fools And Unreasonable Persons; For Men Of Breeding And Sense Will Be Satisfied With Reason And Fair Words.

If I Were Not Alexander, I Would Be Diogenes.

For He Who Gives No Fuel To Fire Puts It Out, And Likewise He Who Does Not In The Beginning Nurse His Wrath And Does Not Puff Himself Up With Anger Takes Precautions Against It And Destroys It.

It Is A Hard Matter, My Fellow Citizens, To Argue With The Belly, Since It Has No Ears.

Themistocles Being Asked Whether He Would Rather Be Achilles Or Homer, Said, "which Would You Rather Be, A Conqueror In The Olympic Games, Or The Crier That Proclaims Who Are Conquerors?

This Excerpt Is Presented As Reproduced By Copernicus In The Preface To De Revolutionibus: "some Think That The Earth Remains At Rest. But Philolaus The Pythagorean Believes That, Like The Sun And Moon, It Revolves Around The Fire In An Oblique Circle. Heraclides Of Pontus And Ecphantus The Pythagorean Make The Earth Move, Not In A Progressive Motion, But Like A Wheel In Rotation From West To East Around Its Own Center."

While Leonidas Was Preparing To Make His Stand, A Persian Envoy Arrived. The Envoy Explained To Leonidas The Futility Of Trying To Resist The Advance Of The Great King's Army And Demanded That The Greeks Lay Down Their Arms And Submit To The Might Of Persia. Leonidas Laconically Told Xerxes, "come And Get Them.

The Whole Of Life Is But A Moment Of Time. It Is Our Duty, Therefore To Use It, Not To Misuse It.

Of The Land Which The Romans Gained By Conquest From Their Neighbours, Part They Sold Publicly, And Turned The Remainder Into Common; This Common Land They Assigned To Such Of The Citizens As Were Poor And Indigent, For Which They Were To Pay Only A Small Acknowledgment Into The Public Treasury. But When The Wealthy Men Began To Offer Larger Rents, And Drive The Poorer People Out, It Was Enacted By Law That No Person Whatever Should Enjoy More Than Five Hundred Acres Of Ground.

Of All The Disorders In The Soul, Envy Is The Only One No One Confesses To.

Agesilaus Being Invited Once To Hear A Man Who Admirably Imitated The Nightingale, He Declined, Saying He Had Heard The Nightingale Itself.

Philosophy Is An Act Of Living.

Come Back With Your Shield - Or On It

Zeno First Started That Doctrine, That Knavery Is The Best Defence Against A Knave.

... Being Perpetually Charmed By His Familiar Siren, That Is, By His Geometry, He Neglected To Eat And Drink And Took No Care Of His Person; That He Was Often Carried By Force To The Baths, And When There He Would Trace Geometrical Figures In The Ashes Of The Fire, And With His Finger Draws Lines Upon His Body When It Was Anointed With Oil, Being In A State Of Great Ecstasy And Divinely Possessed By His Science.

A Few Vices Are Sufficient To Darken Many Virtues.

Those Who Aim At Great Deeds Must Also Suffer Greatly.

As Soft Wax Is Apt To Take The Stamp Of The Seal, So Are The Minds Of Young Children To Receive The Instruction Imprinted On Them.

Demosthenes Told Phocion, "the Athenians Will Kill You Some Day When They Once Are In A Rage." "and You," Said He, "if They Are Once In Their Senses."

The Flatterer's Object Is To Please In Everything He Does; Whereas The True Friend Always Does What Is Right, And So Often Gives Pleasure, Often Pain, Not Wishing The Latter, But Not Shunning It Either, If He Deems It Best.

Spintharus, Speaking In Commendation Of Epaminondas, Says He Scarce Ever Met With Any Man Who Knew More And Spoke Less.

Plato Used To Say To Xenocrates The Philosopher, Who Was Rough And Morose, "good Xenocrates, Sacrifice To The Graces.

The Conduct Of A Wise Politician Is Ever Suited To The Present Posture Of Affairs. Often By Foregoing A Part He Saves The Whole, And By Yielding In A Small Matter Secures A Greater.

He [caesar] Loved The Treason, But Hated The Traitor.

A Spartan Woman, As She Handed Her Son His Shield, Exhorted Him Saying, "as A Warrior Of Sparta Come Back With Your Shield Or On It."

It Is Part Of A Good Man To Do Great And Noble Deeds, Though He Risk Everything.

Speech Is Like Cloth Of Arras Opened And Put Abroad, Whereby The Imagery Doth Appear In Figure; Whereas In Thoughts They Lie But As Packs.

The Old Proverb Was Now Made Good, "the Mountain Had Brought Forth A Mouse.

Both Empedocles And Heraclitus Held It For A Truth That Man Could Not Be Altogether Cleared From Injustice In Dealing With Beasts As He Now Does.

The Measure Of A Man's Life Is The Well Spending Of It, And Not The Length.

Measure Of A Man

What Most Of All Enables A Man To Serve The Public Is Not Wealth, But Content And Independence; Which, Requiring No Superfluity At Home, Distracts Not The Mind From The Common Good.

Remember What Simonides Said, That He Never Repented That He Had Held His Tongue, But Often That He Had Spoken.

For There Is No Virtue, The Honour And Credit For Which Procures A Man More Odium From The Elite Than That Of Justice; And This, Because More Than Any Other, It Acquires A Man Power And Authority Among The Common People. For They Only Honour The Valiant And Admire The Wise, While In Addition They Also Love Just Men, And Put Entire Trust And Confidence In Them.

Fate, However, Is To All Appearance More Unavoidable Than Unexpected.

Julius Caesar Divorced His Wife Pompeia, But Declared At The Trial That He Knew Nothing Of What Was Alleged Against Her And Clodius. When Asked Why, In That Case, He Had Divorced Her, He Replied: Because I Would Have The Chastity Of My Wife Clear Even Of Suspicion.

And Archimedes, As He Was Washing, Thought Of A Manner Of Computing The Proportion Of Gold In King Hiero's Crown By Seeing The Water Flowing Over The Bathing-stool. He Leaped Up As One Possessed Or Inspired, Crying, "i Have Found It! Eureka!".

Nothing Is Cheap Which Is Superfluous, For What One Does Not Need, Is Dear At A Penny.

Alexander Esteemed It More Kingly To Govern Himself Than To Conquer His Enemies.

Good Fortune Will Elevate Even Petty Minds, And Give Them The Appearance Of A Certain Greatness And Stateliness, As From Their High Place They Look Down Upon The World; But The Truly Noble And Resolved Spirit Raises Itself, And Becomes More Conspicuous In Times Of Disaster And Ill Fortune.

We Ought To Give Our Friend Pain If It Will Benefit Him, But Not To The Extent Of Breaking Off Our Friendship; But Just As We Make Use Of Some Biting Medicine That Will Save And Preserve The Life Of The Patient. And So The Friend, Like A Musician, In Bringing About An Improvement To What Is Good And Expedient, Sometimes Slackens The Chords, Sometimes Tightens Them, And Is Often Pleasant, But Always Useful.

He Who First Called Money The Sinews Of The State Seems To Have Said This With Special Reference To War.

Instead Of Using Medicine, Better Fast Today.

When One Is Transported By Rage, It Is Best To Observe Attentively The Effects On Those Who Deliver Themselves Over To The Same Passion.

Poverty Is Not Dishonorable In Itself, But Only When It Comes From Idleness, Intemperance, Extravagance, And Folly.

Nor Is Drunkenness Censured For Anything So Much As Its Intemperate And Endless Talk.

Distressed Valor Challenges Great Respect, Even From An Enemy.

If Nature Be Not Improved By Instruction, It Is Blind; If Instruction Be Not Assisted By Nature, It Is Maimed; And If Exercise Fail Of The Assistance Of Both, It Is Imperfect.

Vultures Are The Most Righteous Of Birds: They Do Not Attack Even The Smallest Living Creature.

Do Not Speak Of Your Happiness To One Less Fortunate Than Yourself.

Knavery Is The Best Defense Against A Knave.

Demosthenes Overcame And Rendered More Distinct His Inarticulate And Stammering Pronunciation By Speaking With Pebbles In His Mouth.

The Same Intelligence Is Required To Marshal An Army In Battle And To Order A Good Dinner. The First Must Be As Formidable As Possible, The Second As Pleasant As Possible, To The Participants.

The Most Glorious Exploits Do Not Always Furnish Us With The Clearest Discoveries Of Virtue Or Vice In Men.

The Generous Mind Adds Dignity To Every Act, And Nothing Misbecomes It.

He Is A Fool Who Leaves Things Close At Hand To Follow What Is Out Of Reach.

If We Traverse The World, It Is Possible To Find Cities Without Walls, Without Letters, Without Kings, Without Wealth, Without Coin, Without Schools And Theatres; But A City Without A Temple, Or That Practiseth Not Worship, Prayer, And The Like, No One Ever Saw.

Man Is Neither By Birth Nor Disposition A Savage, Nor Of Unsocial Habits, But Only Becomes So By Indulging In Vices Contrary To His Nature.

From Themistocles Began The Saying, "he Is A Second Hercules."

Nature And Wisdom Never Are At Strife.

Moral Good Is A Practical Stimulus; It Is No Sooner Seen Than It Inspires An Impulse To Practice.

Athenodorus Says Hydrophobia, Or Water-dread, Was First Discovered In The Time Of Asclepiades.

Hesiod Might As Well Have Kept His Breath To Cool His Pottage.

By The Study Of Their Biographies, We Receive Each Man As A Guest Into Our Minds, And We Seem To Understand Their Character As The Result Of A Personal Acquaintance, Because We Have Obtained From Their Acts The Best And Most Important Means Of Forming An Opinion About Them. "what Greater Pleasure Could'st Thou Gain Than This?" What More Valuable For The Elevation Of Our Own Character?

It Is Not Histories I Am Writing, But Lives; And In The Most Glorious Deeds There Is Not Always An Indication Of Virtue Or Vice, Indeed A Small Thing Like A Phrase Or A Jest Often Makes A Greater Revelation Of A Character Than Battles Where Thousands Die.

The Whole Life Of Man Is But A Point Of Time; Let Us Enjoy It.

To Make No Mistakes Is Not In The Power Of Man; But From Their Errors And Mistakes The Wise And Good Learn Wisdom For The Future.

A Physician, After He Had Felt The Pulse Of Pausanias, And Considered His Constitution, Saying, "he Ails Nothing," "it Is Because, Sir," He Replied, "i Use None Of Your Physic."

I, For My Own Part, Had Much Rather People Should Say Of Me That There Neither Is Nor Ever Was Such A Man As Plutarch, Than That They Should Say, "plutarch Is An Unsteady, Fickle, Froward, Vindictive, And Touchy Fellow.

No Man Ever Wetted Clay And Then Left It, As If There Would Be Bricks By Chance And Fortune.

There Are Two Sentences Inscribed Upon The Ancient Oracle... "know Thyself" And "nothing Too Much"; And Upon These All Other Precepts Depend.

But The Lacedaemonians, Who Make It Their First Principle Of Action To Serve Their Country's Interest, Know Not Any Thing To Be Just Or Unjust By Any Measure But That.

I, For My Part, Wonder Of What Sort Of Feeling, Mind Or Reason That Man Was Possessed Who Was First To Pollute His Mouth With Gore, And To Allow His Lips To Touch The Flesh Of A Murdered Being: Who Spread His Table With The Mangled Forms Of Dead Bodies, And Claimed As Daily Food And Dainty Dishes What But Now Were Beings Endowed With Movement, Perception And With Voice. …but For The Sake Of Some Little Mouthful Of Flesh, We Deprive A Soul Of The Sun And Light, And Of That Portion Of Life And Time It Had Been Born In To The World To Enjoy.

Were It Only To Learn Benevolence To Humankind, We Should Be Merciful To Other Creatures.

Lysander, When Dionysius Sent Him Two Gowns, And Bade Him Choose Which He Would Carry To His Daughter, Said, "she Can Choose Best," And So Took Both Away With Him.

Blinded As They Are To Their True Character By Self-love, Every Man Is His Own First And Chiefest Flatterer, Prepared, Therefore, To Welcome The Flatterer From The Outside, Who Only Comes Confirming The Verdict Of The Flatterer Within.

It Is A Thing Of No Great Difficulty To Raise Objections Against Another Man's Oration, It Is A Very Easy Matter; But To Produce A Better In It's Place Is A Work Extremely Troublesome.

That We May Consult Concerning Others, And Not Others Concerning Us.

Aristodemus, A Friend Of Antigonus, Supposed To Be A Cook's Son, Advised Him To Moderate His Gifts And Expenses. "thy Words," Said He, "aristodemus, Smell Of The Apron.

A Prating Barber Asked Archelaus How He Would Be Trimmed. He Answered, "in Silence."

Choose What Is Best, And Habit Will Make It Pleasant And Easy.

Barba Non Facit Philosophum

When Men Are Arrived At The Goal, They Should Not Turn Back.

When I Myself Had Twice Or Thrice Made A Resolute Resistance Unto Anger, The Like Befell Me That Did The Thebans; Who, Having Once Foiled The Lacedaemonians (who Before That Time Had Held Themselves Invincible), Never After Lost So Much As One Battle Which They Fought Against Them.

It Is No Disgrace Not To Be Able To Do Everything; But To Undertake, Or Pretend To Do, What You Are Not Made For, Is Not Only Shameful, But Extremely Troublesome And Vexatious.

I Had Rather Men Should Ask Why My Statue Is Not Set Up, Than Why It Is.

Thrasyllus The Cynic Begged A Drachm Of Antigonus. "that," Said He, "is Too Little For A King To Give." "why, Then," Said The Other, "give Me A Talent." "and That," Said He, "is Too Much For A Cynic (or, For A Dog) To Receive."

A Friend Should Be Like Money, Tried Before Being Required, Not Found Faulty In Our Need.

For To Err In Opinion, Though It Be Not The Part Of Wise Men, Is At Least Human.

Xenophon Says That There Is No Sound More Pleasing Than One's Own Praises.

What Can They Suffer That Do Not Fear To Die?

Seeing The Lightest And Gayest Purple Was Then Most In Fashion, He Would Always Wear That Which Was The Nearest Black; And He Would Often Go Out Of Doors, After His Morning Meal, Without Either Shoes Or Tunic; Not That He Sought Vain-glory From Such Novelties, But He Would Accustom Himself To Be Ashamed Only Of What Deserves Shame, And To Despise All Other Sorts Of Disgrace.

Friendship Is The Most Pleasant Of All Things, And Nothing More Glads The Heart Of Man.

It Is A True Proverb, That If You Live With A Lame Man, You Will Learn To Limp.

Let Us Carefully Observe Those Good Qualities Wherein Our Enemies Excel Us; And Endeavor To Excel Them, By Avoiding What Is Faulty, And Imitating What Is Excellent In Them.

Let A Prince Be Guarded With Soldiers, Attended By Councillors, And Shut Up In Forts; Yet If His Thoughts Disturb Him, He Is Miserable.

God Is The Brave Man's Hope, And Not The Coward's Excuse.

So Long As He Was Personally Present, [alcibiades] Had The Perfect Mastery Of His Political Adversaries; Calumny Only Succeeded In His Absence.

Nothing Is Harder To Direct Than A Man In Prosperity; Nothing More Easily Managed That One Is Adversity.

The Soul Of Man... Is A Portion Or A Copy Of The Soul Of The Universe And Is Joined Together On Principles And In Proportions Corresponding To Those Which Govern The Universe.

Nature Without Learning Is Blind, Learning Apart From Nature Is Fractional, And Practice In The Absence Of Both Is Aimless.

A Human Body In No Way Resembles Those That Were Born For Ravenousness; It Hath No Hawk's Bill, No Sharp Talon, No Roughness Of Teeth, No Such Strength Of Stomach Or Heat Of Digestion, As Can Be Sufficient To Convert Or Alter Such Heavy And Fleshy Fare.

It Is Not Reasonable That He Who Does Not Shoot Should Hit The Mark, Nor That He Who Does Not Stand Fast At His Post Should Win The Day, Or That The Helpless Man Should Succeed Or The Coward Prosper.

When Eudæmonidas Heard A Philosopher Arguing That Only A Wise Man Can Be A Good General, "this Is A Wonderful Speech," Said He; "but He That Saith It Never Heard The Sound Of Trumpets.

Whenever Alexander Heard Philip Had Taken Any Town Of Importance, Or Won Any Signal Victory, Instead Of Rejoicing At It Altogether, He Would Tell His Companions That His Father Would Anticipate Everything, And Leave Him And Them No Opportunities Of Performing Great And Illustrious Actions.

Anger Turns The Mind Out Of Doors And Bolts The Entrance.

Cicero Said Loud-bawling Orators Were Driven By Their Weakness To Noise, As Lame Men To Take Horse.

Evidence Of Trust Begets Trust, And Love Is Reciprocated By Love.

When Demosthenes Was Asked What Were The Three Most Important Aspects Of Oratory, He Answered, 'action, Action, Action.'

The Obligations Of Law And Equity Reach Only To Mankind; But Kindness And Beneficence Should Be Extended To The Creatures Of Every Species, And These Will Flow From The Breast Of A True Man, As Streams That Issue From The Living Fountain.

Anaximander Says That Men Were First Produced In Fishes, And When They Were Grown Up And Able To Help Themselves Were Thrown Up, And So Lived Upon The Land.

It Is No Great Wonder If In Long Process Of Time, While Fortune Takes Her Course Hither And Thither, Numerous Coincidences Should Spontaneously Occur. If The Number And Variety Of Subjects To Be Wrought Upon Be Infinite, It Is All The More Easy For Fortune, With Such An Abundance Of Material, To Effect This Similarity Of Results.

After He Routed Pharnaces Ponticus At The First Assault, He Wrote Thus To His Friends: "i Came, I Saw, I Conquered.

In Words Are Seen The State Of Mind And Character And Disposition Of The Speaker.

Alexander Wept When He Heard From Anaxarchus That There Was An Infinite Number Of Worlds; And His Friends Asking Him If Any Accident Had Befallen Him, He Returns This Answer: "do You Not Think It A Matter Worthy Of Lamentation That When There Is Such A Vast Multitude Of Them, We Have Not Yet Conquered One?

Painting Is Silent Poetry, And Poetry Is Painting That Speaks.

Grief Is Natural; The Absence Of All Feeling Is Undesirable, But Moderation In Grief Should Be Observed, As In The Face Of All Good Or Evil.

But For The Sake Of Some Little Mouthful Of Flesh We Deprive A Soul Of The Sun And Light, And Of That Proportion Of Life And Time It Had Been Born Into The World To Enjoy.

Silence Is An Answer To A Wise Man.

As Those That Pull Down Private Houses Adjoining To The Temples Of The Gods, Prop Up Such Parts As Are Contiguous To Them; So, In Undermining Bashfulness, Due Regard Is To Be Had To Adjacent Modesty, Good-nature And Humanity.

Education And Study, And The Favors Of The Muses, Confer No Greater Benefit On Those That Seek Them Than These Humanizing And Civilizing Lessons, Which Teach Our Natural Qualities To Submit To The Limitations Prescribed By Reason, And To Avoid The Wildness Of Extremes.

Socrates Said He Was Not An Athenian Or A Greek, But A Citizen Of The World.

As Small Letters Hurt The Sight, So Do Small Matters Him That Is Too Much Intent Upon Them; They Vex And Stir Up Anger, Which Begets An Evil Habit In Him In Reference To Greater Affairs.

Either Is Both, And Both Is Neither.

The Mind Is Not A Vessel To Be Filled But A Fire To Be Kindled.

To Conduct Great Matters And Never Commit A Fault Is Above The Force Of Human Nature.

Statesmen Are Not Only Liable To Give An Account Of What They Say Or Do In Public, But There Is A Busy Inquiry Made Into Their Very Meals, Beds, Marriages, And Every Other Sportive Or Serious Action.

Being Summoned By The Athenians Out Of Sicily To Plead For His Life, Alcibiades Absconded, Saying That That Criminal Was A Fool Who Studied A Defence When He Might Fly For It.

But Being Overborne With Numbers, And Nobody Daring To Face About, Stretching Out His Hands To Heaven, [romulus] Prayed To Jupiter To Stop The Army, And Not To Neglect But Maintain The Roman Cause, Now In Extreme Danger. The Prayer Was No Sooner Made, Than Shame And Respect For Their King Checked Many; The Fears Of The Fugitives Changed Suddenly Into Confidence.

Pythagoras, When He Was Asked What Time Was, Answered That It Was The Soul Of This World.

When Darius Offered Him Ten Thousand Talents, And To Divide Asia Equally With Him, "i Would Accept It," Said Parmenio, "were I Alexander." "and So Truly Would I," Said Alexander, "if I Were Parmenio." But He Answered Darius That The Earth Could Not Bear Two Suns, Nor Asia Two Kings.

There Is No Stronger Test Of A Person's Character Than Power And Authority, Exciting As They Do Every Passion, And Discovering Every Latent Vice.

The Poor Go To War, To Fight And Die For The Delights, Riches, And Superfluities Of Others.

Perseverance Is More Prevailing Than Violence; And Many Things Which Cannot Be Overcome When They Are Together, Yield Themselves Up When Taken Little By Little.

Wise Men Are Able To Make A Fitting Use Even Of Their Enmities.

For, In The Language Of Heraclitus, The Virtuous Soul Is Pure And Unmixed Light, Springing From The Body As A Flash Of Lightning Darts From The Cloud. But The Soul That Is Carnal And Immersed In Sense, Like A Heavy And Dank Vapor, Can With Difficulty Be Kindled, And Caused To Raise Its Eyes Heavenward.

There Is No Debt With So Much Prejudice Put Off As That Of Justice.

The Very Spring And Root Of Honesty And Virtue Lie In Good Education.

Agesilaus Was Very Fond Of His Children; And It Is Reported That Once Toying With Them He Got Astride Upon A Reed As Upon A Horse, And Rode About The Room; And Being Seen By One Of His Friends, He Desired Him Not To Speak Of It Till He Had Children Of His Own.

Moral Habits, Induced By Public Practices, Are Far Quicker In Making Their Way Into Men's Private Lives, Than The Failings And Faults Of Individuals Are In Infecting The City At Large.

Foreign Lady Once Remarked To The Wife Of A Spartan Commander That The Women Of Sparta Were The Only Women In The World Who Could Rule Men. "we Are The Only Women Who Raise Men," The Spartan Lady Replied.

Abstruse Questions Must Have Abstruse Answers.

Men Who Marry Wives Very Much Superior To Themselves Are Not So Truly Husbands To Their Wives As They Are Unawares Made Slaves To Their Position.

...to The Dolphin Alone, Beyond All Other, Nature Has Granted What The Best Philosophers Seek: Friendship For No Advantage

Courage And Wisdom Are, Indeed, Rarities Amongst Men, But Of All That Is Good, A Just Man It Would Seem Is The Most Scarce.

Philosophy Finds Talkativeness A Disease Very Difficult And Hard To Cure. For Its Remedy, Conversation, Requires Hearers: But Talkative People Hear Nobody, For They Are Ever Prating. And The First Evil This Inability To Keep Silence Produces Is An Inability To Listen.

Forgetfulness Transforms Every Occurrence Into A Non-occurrence.

What All The World Knows Water Is The Principle, Or The Element, Of Things. All Things Are Water.

It Is Easy To Utter What Has Been Kept Silent, But Impossible To Recall What Has Been Uttered.

Character Is Simply Habit Long Continued.

He (cato) Used To Say That In All His Life He Never Repented But Of Three Things. The First Was That He Had Trusted A Woman With A Secret; The Second That He Had Gone By Sea When He Might Have Gone By Land; And The Third, That Had Passed One Day Without Having A Will By Him.

They Are Wrong Who Think That Politics Is Like An Ocean Voyage Or A Military Campaign, Something To Be Done With Some Particular End In View, Something Which Leaves Off As Soon As That End Is Reached. It Is Not A Public Chore, To Be Got Over With. It Is A Way Of Life. It Is The Life Of A Domesticated Political And Social Creature Who Is Born With A Love For Public Life, With A Desire For Honor, With A Feeling For His Fellows; And It Lasts As Long As Need Be.

The Man Who First Brought Ruin Upon The Roman People Was He Who Pampered Them By Largesses And Amusements.

Words Will Build No Walls.

Medicine To Produce Health Must Examine Disease; And Music, To Create Harmony Must Investigate Discord.

Where The Lion's Skin Will Not Reach, You Must Patch It Out With The Fox's.

The Omission Of Good Is No Less Reprehensible Than The Commission Of Evil.

Rest Is The Sweet Sauce Of Labor.

When Anaxagoras Was Told Of The Death Of His Son, He Only Said, "i Knew He Was Mortal." So We In All Casualties Of Life Should Say "i Knew My Riches Were Uncertain, That My Friend Was But A Man." Such Considerations Would Soon Pacify Us, Because All Our Troubles Proceed From Their Being Unexpected.

A Locanian Having Plucked All The Feathers Off From A Nightingale And Seeing What A Little Body It Had, "surely," Quoth He, "thou Art All Voice And Nothing Else.

These Macedonians Are A Rude And Clownish People; They Call A Spade A Spade.

Water And Our Necessary Food Are The Only Things That Wise Men Must Fight For.

The Saying Of Old Antigonus, Who When He Was To Fight At Andros, And One Told Him, "the Enemy's Ships Are More Than Ours," Replied, "for How Many Then Wilt Thou Reckon Me?

The Drop Hollows Out The Stone Not By Strength, But By Constant Falling.

Those Are Greedy Of Praise Prove That They Are Poor In Merit.

When A Man's Struggle Begins Within Oneself, The Man Is Worth Something.

It Is No Flattery To Give A Friend A Due Character; For Commendation Is As Much The Duty Of A Friend As Reprehension.

Character Is Inured Habit.

Nothing Can Produce So Great A Serenity Of Life As A Mind Free From Guilt And Kept Untainted, Not Only From Actions, But Purposes That Are Wicked. By This Means The Soul Will Be Not Only Unpolluted But Also Undisturbed. The Fountain Will Run Clear And Unsullied.

The Authors Of Great Evils Know Best How To Remove Them.

Silence At The Proper Season Is Wisdom, And Better Than Any Speech.

Beauty Is The Flower Of Virtue.

Let Us Not Wonder If Something Happens Which Never Was Before, Or If Something Doth Not Appear Among Us With Which The Ancients Were Acquainted.

When Malice Is Joined To Envy, There Is Given Forth Poisonous And Feculent Matter, As Ink From The Cuttle-fish.

Democritus Said, Words Are But The Shadows Of Actions.

Alcibiades Had A Very Handsome Dog, That Cost Him Seven Thousand Drachmas; And He Cut Off His Tail, "that," Said He, "the Athenians May Have This Story To Tell Of Me, And May Concern Themselves No Further With Me.

Someone Praising A Man For His Foolhardy Bravery, Cato, The Elder, Said, ''there Is A Wide Difference Between True Courage And A Mere Contempt Of Life.

Poverty Is Never Dishonourable In Itself, But Only When It Is A Mark Of Sloth, Intemperance, Extravagance, Or Thoughtlessness. When, On The Other Hand, It Is The Handmaid Of A Sober, Industrious, Righteous, And Brave Man, Who Devotes All His Powers To The Service Of The People, It Is The Sign Of A Lofty Spirit That Harbours No Mean Thoughts

The Pilot Cannot Mitigate The Billows Or Calm The Winds.

Rather I Fear On The Contrary That While We Banish Painful Thoughts We May Banish Memory As Well.

When The Strong Box Contains No More Both Friends And Flatterers Shun The Door.

A Human Body In No Way Resembles Those That Were Born For Ravenousness; It Hath No Hawk's Bill, No Sharp Talon, No Roughness Of Teeth, No Such Strength Of Stomach Or Heat Of Digestion, As Can Be Sufficient To Convert Or Alter Such Heavy And Fleshy Fare . . . There Is Nobody That Is Willing To Eat Even A Lifeless And A Dead Thing Even As It Is; So They Boil It, And Roast It, And Alter It By Fire And Medicines, As It Were, Changing And Quenching The Slaughtered Gore With Thousands Of Sweet Sauces, That The Palate Being Thereby Deceived May Admit Of Such Uncouth Fare.

Lamentation Is The Only Musician That Always, Like A Screech-owl, Alights And Sits On The Roof Of Any Angry Man.

The Great God Pan Is Dead.

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